Who is that masked man? A Virginia State Police tactical team member directs a tow truck into the driveway at 920 Rugby Road.

photo by lisa provence

Alan McNeil Jones before and after his arrest.

U.S. attorney/U.S. Marshals

Mark G. Bernardo is accused of making fake IDs.

U.S. Marshalls

Some friends had concerns about Kelly McPhee's relationship with Jones.

donated photo

John Whitehead's new book is "A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State."

file photo by jen fariello

Some thought excessive the use of riot police to disperse a peaceful demonstration on the steps of the Capitol in Richmond in March 2012.

photo by lisa provence

Kelly McPhee

U.S. Marshals

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After the entire city of Boston was shut down last month during a massive manhunt following explosions that maimed and slaughtered marathon bystanders, news that a block of Rugby Road was shut down last week for a multi-agency operation sparked ominous speculation. Was it a terrorist threat? A hostage situation? A murderous rampage?

Virginia State Police initially refused to say what nefarious activity had taken place that warranted closing off a stretch of one of Charlottesville's most prestigious streets.

The target of SWAT-attired state police and Homeland Security agents, who shut down Rugby Road between Preston and Rosser avenues around 9:30pm May 6? A fake ID ring, it turns out.

Even the next day, long after two residents had been hauled off to jail and a third mysteriously "fled custody" in a white Range Rover, according to authorities, combat-clad cops with assault weapons maintained a perimeter around 920 Rugby Road while an armored vehicle sat in the driveway with blue lights flashing, keeping curious flip flop-wearing students and well-heeled neighbors at bay.

"I heard lots of doors slamming and saw a million blue lights," says a resident who's lived on Rugby Road for 35 years and who demands that her name not be used. "I went over here and asked if there was a fire.

"I was ordered to go home, " she adds indignantly.

"Boston was the breaking point," says civil libertarian John Whitehead at the Rutherford Institute, a longtime critic of SWAT ops. "If you can lock down a whole city, it gives police leeway to do more."

The show of force in a prominent college-town neighborhood of $1-million-plus homes has some critics raising another question. Could the 21-year-old drinking age get someone killed?

The playersThey drove a Range Rover and a $50,000 Cadilliac SUV. They paid $4,000 a month cash in rent for a house on Rugby Road that had been listed for over $3 million. The safe in the house had $200,000– as well as a gun on top, and other firearms were on the premises, according to court documents.

This is the house that Jacques built

The house at 920 Rugby Road has a somewhat unusual history as a multi-million dollar spec house constructed in the sluggish real estate market of 2010.

"Typically, builders steer clear of spec houses of that size and value in almost any market because of the carrying costs and the risks involved," says local real estate agent Roger Voisinet, who notes that the home's location on a rare lot on prestigious Rugby Road may have convinced the builder that a buyer could be found even in a tough market– and that they'd be willing to pay top dollar.

The $3.75 million initial listing price of the house however, far exceeded the value of most other homes on that street, Voisinet points out, so it would still be considered out of place.

Built by local contractor Stephen Jacques, who along with his wife, Diane, purchased the lot for $230,000 in 2003, it was first listed in the MLS for rent in March 2011 for $8,000 a month. That amount steadily dropped each month until August 2011, when the listing was withdrawn at $3,999 per month. That same month, it was briefly listed for sale in the MLS for $3.75 million, although the city assessment that year placed it at $1.5 million and it's currently assessed at $1.35 million.

According to a residential property report, the five-bedroom, five-bath home features over 6,400 square feet of living space on a one-third acre lot.

Among the amenities enjoyed by its recent tenants, according to the report, are "surprising views of Brown's Mountain," "stone-walled study and family rooms," three wood-burning fireplaces, and a home theater. Interior photos of the property in the report show gleaming dark hardwood floors and the requisite gourmet kitchen.

As reported in the main article, the man now known as Alan McNeil Jones was paying $4,000 per month in cash, according to court records. City records show that in July 2012, Phillipe LLC opened a $600,000 line of credit on the property, secured by the rent on 920 Rugby Road, but not secured by the real estate itself.

Voisinet describes that as an unusual security. "Normal security would be on the house," he says. "Why wouldn't the bank ask for it?"

Bill Cimino, spokesperson for the lender, Union First Market Bank in Harrisonburg, declines comment on the specific loan, but says using rent as collateral is not unusual. Jacques did not return the Hook's calls.

Whatever the case, with Jones now incarcerated and his assets likely seized, finding a new tenant or buyer for 920 Rugby Road may well be desirable.

–Courteney Stuart

And their neighbors wondered, where did those young people, who didn't interact with other residents, get their money?

Perhaps the most unlikely of the three suspects is Kelly Erin McPhee, 31. "She's the last person I'd expect to be arrested by a SWAT team," says an acquaintance from the Charlottesville Drinking Club, which McPhee organized around 2009-2010 and which drew twenty-somethings to local watering holes with drink discounts. Photos on a Flickr account show McPhee as a pretty, smiling blond with long curly hair, posing with an array of friends.

McPhee worked for a number of years at Mellow Mushroom. She also was involved with a local software provider called CloudBrain, which created a digital music organizer that cleaned up playlists and that was sold to a large company in Seattle, according to people who know her and who requested their names not be used.

"She's super nice– I'm shocked," says local real estate/restaurant developer Stu Rifkin, one of the few people who would speak on the record about McPhee. He knew her through Curbplaces.com, a now-defunct real estate and neighborhood website that was a partnership with CloudBrain. Rifkin says he hasn't seen her in a few years.

A couple of neighbors who spoke with the Hook said there seemed to be something "sketchy" about the tenants of 920 Rugby Road. One recounts some children going on the property and Jones cursing at them. "We've never been happy with those neighbors," says another before slamming down the phone.

As for McPhee's relationship with Jones/Tucker/Williams et. al., one clue emerged as they each stood before a federal judge May 8. Both said they attended the University of Alabama. Jones also said he attended Long Island University.

A friend who spoke only on the condition of anonymity says McPhee went to the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and adds, "Kelly is a great example of a really sweet girl who probably thought it was exciting to live a little dangerously, and never considered the repercussions."

Another friend who spoke to the Hook, again only on the condition of anonymity, paints a more menacing portrait of the dynamic between McPhee and Jones.

"It was one of the more emotionally manipulative relationships I've seen. She went where he told her to go and stayed as long as he allowed her to. It was a relationship that had friends and family worried for years– they dated off and on for about five years."

According to this friend, "No one felt comfortable around [Jones]," who the friend describes as "paranoid."

Says this source, who knew Jones for about three years, "He ranted about the government invading privacy and the foolishness of having personal information on Facebook and on the internet. He also told me he was in the military, and when I found out the FBI was after him, I thought it might be because he was AWOL because he told me he had left basic training because he'd twisted his ankle."

Observes McPhee's friend, "CloudBrain was Kelly's last strong, healthy tie to community, and when that went away, [Jones] gained even more control of her. She no longer had structure to her life."

The business planFake IDs have always been coveted by those too young to drink, but the demand exploded after the Federal Aid Highway Act in 1984, which forced the many states that had made 18 the legal drinking age during the Vietnam War years to raise it to 21 years old or face losing federal highway funds.

Much as Prohibition did, the 21-year-old drinking age has created new categories of criminals, from underage 19-year-old drinkers to the purveyors of high-quality faux identification.

The path that led law enforcement to Rugby Road started at the College of Charleston in 2012, when several students were busted with fake IDs and told police they'd heard word of mouth of a company called "Novel Designs," says Lazaro "Larry" Cosme in the criminal complaint. Cosme is a special agent for Homeland Security, Immigration, and Customs Enforcement in Harrisonburg, and he says Jones a.k.a. Tucker has been selling the fakes since at least August 2011.

The complaint says the fake IDs were marketed toward under-age college students. U.S. Attorney spokesperson Brian McGinn declines to say whether there's any evidence of sales to terrorists or identity thieves.

Purchasers were told to send cash to Com Services at PO Box 7266 in Charlottesville, and about a week later, the students would receive "high-quality fraudulent driver's licenses from various states" from an entity called ND & Associates with a fake PO box-address in Richmond, according to the complaint. Special agent Cosme says he and other law enforcement agents corroborated with multiple witnesses that numerous people sent cash to Com Services.

ND & Associates used free U.S. Postal Service software to create shipping labels. They mailed their product with stamps or flat-rate priority mail envelopes– over 4,000 parcels since early 2011, according to Cosme.

On January 11, the investigators put a covert surveillance camera in the main U.S. Post Office on Seminole Trail to keep an eye on PO Box 7266, and observed that it was regularly checked by Jones, although they didn't seem to know his identity at that time.

By January 23, agents followed Jones to a white 2008 Range Rover with Washington state license plates. A woman they believed was McPhee was sitting in the car's passenger seat– and from the post office, agents ultimately followed the couple to 920 Rugby Road.

Over the next two months, they observed Jones pick up mail from PO Box 7266 "almost daily" and McPhee do so three times.

They also installed a surveillance camera on Rugby Road to keep closer tabs on the house, and noted a black 2013 Cadillac SUV that was registered to Bai Wu in Philadelphia and driven by Mark Bernardo, who later told agents he'd given Wu, his brother-in-law, $50,000 in cash to buy the Cadillac for him in part to avoid detection.

The big break in identitying Jones appears to have come May 2, when he drove a red Jeep Wrangler, according to court documents. Agents following him ran the tags, and discovered they were registered to Alan Jones for a 2005 Dodge Ram truck in Alabama.

Investigators talked to the owners of 920 Rugby Road, who told them they rented the house to a Joshua Tucker, who preferred to conduct business in cash, and even said he'd paid $60K cash for a vehicle, according to court documents. They identified a photo of Jones as the man they knew as Tucker.

City property records show 920 Rugby Road is owned by Phillipe LLC, whose registered Albemarle County address is that of Stephen and Diane Jacques, who built the 5,000-square-foot house in 2010. They did not respond to phone calls from the Hook.

The owners had another interesting detail for the investigators, according to court records: during a December 2011 maintenance check, they noticed Jones had fortified a room and had lots of latex glove boxes around.

Undercover buyOn April 28, law enforcement agents were ready to make their own purchase of what is described in court records as "premium quality fraudulent identifications." They emailed Novel Designs and received very specific instructions on the class of mail and U.S. Postal Service add-ons to use to send cash to Com Services at the Charlottesville main post office.

Agents received an email back that said the IDs had shipped on May 6– and that night federal and state tactical units moved in for the bust and shut down Rugby Road.

McPhee and Bernardo were arrested, and from court documents, it appears Bernardo immediately rolled over on his business associates.

He told agents that he'd been employed since December by the man he knew as "Carter," and was paid in cash to edit the backgrounds of the photos used in the fake IDs. Carter a.k.a. Jones and McPhee were the only other people allowed to enter the upstairs rooms where the fake ID manufacturing was done, said Bernardo.

Somehow, Jones fled custody May 6. U.S. Attorney Tim Heaphy declined to elaborate on how Jones managed to slip away in the white Range Rover from the tactical teams blockading Rugby Road.

Jones' life as a fugitive was short lived. Police received a tip May 7 that the Range Rover was spotted near Banana Republic at Barracks Road Shopping Center, says Charlottesville Police spokesperson Ronnie Roberts.

"He was seen going into a business," says Roberts, who declines to say which business, leaving the public to wonder just what sort of purchases Jones might have been making for a life on the lam at a shopping center barely a mile from where his fake ID ring had just been busted big time.

There was a short chase, and Jones was found "hiding behind a column close to the front of Harris Teeter," says Roberts.

"These heavily armed men with the biggest guns I've ever seen pointed them at this guy who looked like he was out for a jog," says an eyewitness to the arrest who was in her vehicle in front of Harris Teeter and spoke on the condition of anonymity. "At first he was running. And then he stopped running and put his hands in the air."

Says the witness, "It was frightening because if someone had started firing there would have been a lot of civilians in the way. It was 5:30 on a weeknight at Harris Teeter. A little bit terrifying."

In courtU.S. Magistrate Judge Waugh Crigler's courtroom on the third floor of the federal courthouse on the corner of Ridge-McIntire is not huge, and before the 10:30am hearing began May 8, the two rows closest to the front were filled with family and friends of Kelly McPhee.

A tearful McPhee in a red jail jumpsuit was brought in, along with Jones and Bernardo.

In separate hearings, Jones and McPhee learned that they face up to 55 years and $750,000 in fines on three felony charges for mail, wire, and false identification fraud. "We expect many additional charges," U.S. Attorney Heaphy told the judge.

Jones wanted to hire his own attorney, and McPhee's family brought in defense attorney Andrew Sneathern.

Bernardo, who is charged with one count of fraud for the fake IDs and one count of money laundering, presumably for the Cadillac purchase, and who likely will face additional charges, according to Heaphy, wanted a public defender.

The 26-year-old was cryptic when Judge Crigler quizzed him about his finances and asked if he had any money stored. "No cash," said Bernardo, who acknowledged an old bank account from a business with about $2,000 in it.

Then Bernardo asked what it would entail for him to represent himself.

"The general rule is that the person who represents himself has a fool for a client," advised Crigler.

The three will be back in court May 16 for a bail hearing.

"The overcriminalization of America"John Whitehead, who coined the phrase above, was one of the few expressing concerns when Boston– a major U.S. city– was shut down April 19.

Whitehead dates what he calls the militarization of police to well before 9/11, back to Ronald and Nancy Reagan's war on drugs in the 1980s. That's when the federal government started handing out tactical weapons and equipment to local law enforcement, and the images of Mayberry's Andy Griffith and Barney Fife as the kinder, gentler way of keeping the peace began to fade.

Since then, the number of special weapons and tactics– SWAT– raids has shot up to 80,000 a year, says Whitehead. And innocent people have died in raids, 10 to 15 percent of which are to wrong addresses, he says.

He cites the Tucson slaying two years ago of Marine and Iraq vet Jose Guerena, who was killed when men who did not identify themselves as police stormed into his home and Guerena grabbed a weapon to defend his family.

"What I'm seeing is an increase in storm troopers," says Whitehead, who also criticized the use of assault-weapon-carrying tactical teams who burst onto the property of an Albemarle County man two years ago and busted him for two pot plants.

"This is a form of martial law when you close down a street," says Whitehead, "Over fake IDs? It's one thing if they were gun running."

Whitehead wonders why the three fake ID suspects weren't arrested when they were on the street, especially since they were under surveillance.

He notes that in the 1993 Waco massacre that killed 76 men, women and children in the standoff of Branch Davidians against federal agents, cult leader David Koresh went jogging every morning. "Why didn't the SWAT team arrest him then?" asks Whitehead.

Another danger Whitehead warns of from the militarization of police is the ratcheting up of paranoia of people he refers to as "gun fanatics," who see it as reason to arm themselves further.

Gearing up in flak jackets and assault rifles is pretty much the standard across the country, says city police spokesperson Ronnie Roberts. "That is normal protocol for tactical units," he says of the Rugby Road op.

And even though Charlottesville Police were not informed of the May 6 raid until right before it started, Roberts points out that this is not the first time Rugby Road has been shut down and mentions Operation Equinox.

That's when three fraternities were busted in 1991 to show that the war on drugs also took aim at privileged white students and wasn't only targeting minorities. That raid has become notorious to some as an example of the excess of the war on drugs and spawned activists such as Jamie Graham, a third-year who sold two hits of LSD to an undercover cop for $5 and went to federal prison for his offense.

Rugby Road resident Kaye Teasley says she came of age when the drinking age was 18 for beer and 21 for wine and liquor. "We just drank beer," she says. "It was legal and we were fine with that." While she recalls parties where other alcohol was served, "for the most part, beer was our drink of choice. Now, because the kids cannot drink anything, they drink everything. Meaning, there are no distinctions between shots of alcohol and just a casual beer or three."

In addition to encouraging heavier drinking of stronger drinks, the 21 drinking age, Teasley says, provides a motive to possess– or for entrepreneurial types, perhaps, to create– fake IDs.

"I think the drinking age creates a few bad incentives," she says.

The use of fake IDs can even draw the weight of Homeland Security, says Hotcakes co-owner Keith Rosenfeld, who recently attended a class taught by ABC agents for owners of restaurants serving alcohol. "The agents were very clear that UVA has a lot of fake IDs," says Rosenfeld. “The agents stated that two foreign students can't get home because their fake ID convictions put them on the no-fly list.”

"An 18-year-old is going to drink beer come heck or high water," says Foxfield Racing Association president Benjamin Dick, who reminds that this country considers that age old enough to go to war. "The 21-year-old law forces them to drink clandestinely."

Dick has had his own battles controlling collegiate drinking at Foxfield, and has collected a lot of fake IDs. "An officer said there sure are a lot of students from New Jersey," he recounts.

New Jersey seems to be a popular state for fake IDers, including a 19-year-old who spoke with the Hook only on the condition that his name and his school not be revealed. He did not get his $100 fake driver's license from the alleged Charlottesville ring, and lost money trying to buy one from an online website. Ultimately, a friend in New York was able to procure one for him.

"Most of my friends at school don't have them," he says. "Almost all my friends at home have them."

"If we had an 18-year-old drinking law," says Dick, "the number of false IDs would probably drop proportionally in number."

He also takes aim at the amount of force used in the Rugby Road raid. "You need that kind of manpower at the Boston marathon," he opines. "Those were life-threatening situations. No one's going to come out [with guns] blazing for fake IDs."

Police don't necessarily agree, and the criminal complaint notes multiple weapons found in the house, including a high-power assault rifle.

"It is fake IDs," says John Whitehead. "You don't need a SWAT team for this. There's a danger of people getting killed."

There's also the danger of pets getting shot, he says. "Usually they shoot dogs," he says of SWAT ops. A Doberman pinscher found in the Rugby Road house survived the raid and was taken into custody by Animal Control.

If Whitehead rails against the increased use of SWAT ops, retired State Police Lieutenant Joe Rader says police make decisions on the level of force required based on specific information gathered during the investigation.

"As a police officer, there is nothing worse," Rader says, "then being under prepared."

Still, the image of flak-jacketed, helmet-wearing, assault-rifle-toting police is disturbing to many citizens. "It seems to me a different level of extremism is rising with police," says local Soren Mitchell. "Police are becoming really militarized."

He finds public acceptance of that even more disturbing. "It seems like the whole nation is scared and willing to give up their freedoms for protection," says Mitchell.

To Whitehead, the show of force directly stems from the military equipment the federal government provides to local police, and the overcriminalization of America.

"Outrage is the word," he says. "We have a police state here. We don't want to see this in Charlottesville for this kind of operation. If they're going to blow up something, then act quickly. But for something like this?"

24 comments

Just Curious May 15th, 2013 | 11:41am

Saw a piece on the local news within the last month or so about all the nifty new gear the Charlottesville Police has recently procured.
It looked like hard-core military gear. This is what happens. Wouldn't want that investment to just sit around collecting dust.
Scarey trend.

Ponce de leon May 15th, 2013 | 11:52am

As a police officer, there is nothing worse," Rader says, "then being under prepared."

....... and as a citizen there is nothing worse than an armed cop coming in without a warrant and shooting your dog or your family....

According to the FBI, 72 police officers were killed feloniously in 2011– an increase of 25 percent over the previous year.

............. I wonder how many were shot BECAUSE they went in like gestapo.

Everyday there is another video of out of control police and it is getting worse.

This situation I believe warranted the show of power as a deterrent to a gunfight because there were hundreds of students within the neighborhod who could have been hit with a stray bullet or a caught in the crossfire of an across campus chase.

However, once the property was secured they should have done everything possible to have the neighborhood return to normal so that the disruption was not so intimidating. There was no reason for blue lights or having armed guards at the ready.

1. John Whitehead doesn't do the buik of his work for free; he makes money off his "defense of constitutional rights." That in and of itself is not necessarily a bad thing, but it is reason enough to take his claims about "storm troopers" with a grain of salt. He has a financial incentive to inflame people's sense that Big Brother is coming for them. Too many cynical and/or paranoid citizens are quick to point out the vested interests of our elected officials; it only makes sense for those citizens to question the vested financial interests of anyone who tells them what they already wanted to hear.

2. Perhaps we should interview someone who has lived in an actual "police state" and ask them to outline some of the differences between the two.

3. Ben Dick (interesting choice to interview him for this particular article, by the by) states, without any apparent expertise, but whatever, I guess he's an authority we should all listen to, that "No one's going to come out [with guns] blazing for fake IDs." How about for their multimillion-dollar livelihood? The income from this operation was apparently pretty substantial. People want to protect their operations. Drug-dealers don't come out "guns blazing" over the drugs themselves--they come out over what the drugs represent and manifest for them.

4. I pity anyone who goes into law enforcement or has a loved one in law enforcement. Enflamed by people like John Whitehead, the author of this Hook article, everyone at FoxNews etc., people are increasingly viewing police officers with suspicion and contempt.

Meanwhile May 15th, 2013 | 2:01pm

I am very skeptical of the whole "damsel in distress" narrative that McPhee's friends want to believe. Just because she's a pretty, blond woman doesn't mean she didn't know exactly what she was doing. I wonder how all these people would feel about her if she wasn't pretty and bubbly?

jeezlouise May 15th, 2013 | 3:52pm

"He ranted about the government invading privacy and the foolishness of having personal information on Facebook and on the internet."

Paranoid huh? As evidenced by this Administration's illegal activies and coverups I would say he is spot on. I would have dismissed Whitehead's comments if this was pre 2008 but now I am starting to agree with him.

Liberalace May 15th, 2013 | 3:57pm

Always enjoys those landlords in little towns who rent a mansion for $4,000 per month and the rather young tenant pays in cash...and the landlord never questions it. As if Jacques didn't have ideas about what was going on in the abode.

read... "However, the provisions of this section shall not apply to persons (i) wearing traditional holiday costumes; (ii) engaged in professions, trades, employment or other activities and wearing protective masks which are deemed necessary for the physical safety of the wearer or other persons;

Gasbag Self Ordained Expert May 15th, 2013 | 6:55pm

NOT true Miss/Mrs./Mr ****

read... "However, the provisions of this section shall not apply to persons (i) wearing traditional holiday costumes; (ii) engaged in professions, trades, employment or other activities and wearing protective masks which are deemed necessary for the physical safety of the wearer or other persons;

Someone May 15th, 2013 | 9:03pm

The SWAT teams' masks aren't for physical safety they're to hide their identity and to intimidate. Maybe on a really cold day. In Minnesota. In the wintertime.

Someone May 16th, 2013 | 1:41am

"The general rule is that the person who represents himself has a fool for a client," advised Crigler.

This isn't a piece of advice. This is an outrageously bombastic display of arrogance and contempt for the right to self representation. Whose "general rule" is Crigler referring to? One that he wrote and passed from the bench? Is it possible to get a fair trial while representing oneself in this courtroom? The general rule is that when a judge makes statements such as these he is disbarred.

Icer May 16th, 2013 | 9:08am

> According to the FBI, 72 police officers were killed feloniously in 2011– an increase of 25 percent over the previous year.

And how many citizens were killed by cops? We won't know because the Federal government doesn't keep track. There's no central database of Americans murdered by police. Two generations of Americans deferring to police/military power is coming home to roost.

The cops that wore masks while raiding the house on Rugby aren't the problem. We, the people that tolerate their presence in our midst are the problem.

Tim Brown May 16th, 2013 | 1:21pm

@Someone - Abe Lincoln said it u knucklehead. Pop a quaalude mane n take it eazy

Liberalace May 16th, 2013 | 4:08pm

@Tim Brown...The writer was not wondering who said the quip but, rather, why the judge referred to it as a "general rule." We all know the judge's reason for saying this in such an arrogant fashion was a lousy attempt at flexing his muscles in "his" courtroom. Barristers like this are a dime a dozen. So go back to your Xanax (and next time use a cap for Quaaludes; it is a proper name of a drug), chap.

See 'ya July 14th!

R.I.P.: Rick James

Someone May 16th, 2013 | 4:48pm

Well, Tim I admit I didn't know it was a quote but considering the source of the quote, I rest my case.

Pipe down, everybody. This was waaaaaaaaaaay bigger than we knew, and this could have been a terrible shootout. Turns out between cash in the house--more than the $200K originally announced--and bank accounts, they had more than $1 million in CASH along with 18 guns (including the type used in the Connecticut mass murder). Worth a shootout to a lot of people. And there a lot of guns aroun. I agree it's interesting they didn't arrest them while they were out, but I think the purpose of a raid is to capture everybody at once without giving anybody a chance to flee. Speaking of which, I'd like to know how that guy managed to get away. And I am still wondering what he did all day before he was caught. Certainly somebody saw him. More details: http://www.dailyprogress.com/news/m-seized-in-id-ring-raid-suspects-decl...

Hoolarious May 17th, 2013 | 9:34pm

So Someone is that tinfoil-hat/water-fluoridation dude? Hilarious.

Someone May 17th, 2013 | 11:11pm

Show me a tinfoil hat and I'll show you an aluminum foil hat. Then I'll call you a kook.

I think plenty folks with an IQ higher than room temperature ought to take a minute to read it. I never thought anything like that could happen to me until it did. Perhaps John Whitehead would like to make a comment about what a good a job they did.

Someone May 19th, 2013 | 8:11pm

The Hook's moI was forcibly drugged before the hearing, Saywha. I was given a chemical lobotomy before the hearing, Saywha. I was rendered unable to think and thus unable to represent myself effectively through actions which the Geneva Accord On Human Rights clearly and unequivocally define as torture. Just so you and everyone else understands what you're pointing to, trying to make a fool of me. I was never given the opportunity to examine the information to be presented to the judge beforehand or the opportunity to challenge the credibility or accuracy of the source. I was deliberately blindsighted sworn testimony by a resident (meaning not fully trained yet, not qualified to be giving testimony as a psychiatrist at a commitment hearing) citing dozens of patent falsehoods which I had no idea were even thought about me until the very moment I was told "you are not to speak" by the "special justice" when I tried to clarify and refute them. They were taken as fact. The resident also stated she had spoken with me that morning when she had no dialogue with myself but a brief exchange of "hellos" at the very moment the hearing was to begin. That also was taken as fact. MY (court appointed) attorney Andrew Wilder stated "He scored a 28 out of 30 on a mental stability exam but we're still gonna try to send him to Western" (?!) This was not at the hearing, however. This was to a nurse (in violation of client-attorney privelege) before they realized I could hear everything they were saying and scowled at me angrily before both walking away, refusing to discuss the matter with me. So I fired that piece of work. Another attorney was appointed. Nothing was mentioned about my 28 out of 30 stability score during the hearing. Cited as the evidence of "paranoid schizophrenia" were my concerns about water fluoridation and my belief in the benefits of chelation therapy. Additionally cited was another belief of mine (9/11 was an inside job). This was not a belief I had came to on my own, mind you. This was an idea that was introduced to me by (get ready for this) A PSYCHIATRY RESIDENT AT UVA. Not at the hospital, mind you. But as a trusted friend I thought I knew and liked, over the course of an enthusistic conversation we were having on government and the Iraq war, before I was ever brought to the hospital. This resident was present at the hearing as well. He made no mention, as the other resident cited my belief that 9/11 was an inside job as evidence of paranoid schizophrenia,l that it was he himself who introduced this idea to me. This was a railroad, a deliberate setup, a cruel medical experiment, a travesty of justice, a crime, a conspiracy. It was so important that I be adjudicated (and that any prospects of holding public office, legally owning a firearm, or being a respected, confident, and effective activist were seriously damaged) that they purposely did not tell my mother (and legal guardian) or my father (a well respected medical doctor who teaches medicine at UVA) of their intentions to have me commited to Western State. Had my father known he might have hired a real lawyer for me, at the very least. If the details matter, I've got loads and loads more damning details, Saywha. I'll leave it up to you whether you ask for them or not.
Regarding the medical malpractice lawsuit that naturally ensued, I did ask Attorney Stephen Rosenfield if he would represent me in my suit. He said that he would, for an initial fee of $2,000 (plus a percentage of any damages won, I presumed). It wasn't that I didn't think he was worth it, I simply didn't have $2,000. I guess that makes me a "fool" in some people's eyes.
Don't forcibly drug me before my commitment hearing. Allow me to represent myself without all my mental faculties being compromised by powerful neuroleptic drug injections. Don't tell me I am not to speak when attempting to defend myself against false witness while my court appointed attorney sits placidly silent at my side. When I sue and check on the summons that I want a jury trial, grant me a jury trial. Don't tell me before I've even begun proceedings "You've got five minutes, I'm ready for lunch" and think that since nobody but the defendant's Attorney is present that the whole town won't find out you said this without even having read my bill of particulars. Don't tell me I'm not to speak at my own commitment HEARING after I've already been drugged and virtually rendered mute, and expect everyone to come rushing to defend you like Saywha? Expect to be publicly disgraced for the arrogant authoritarian despots you are. tto is "You Can Handle The Truth". Don't handle it by deleting it folks.

Someone May 19th, 2013 | 8:15pm

No, the Hook doesn't have any moles (or do they). Their motto is "You Can Handle The Truth" but whenever it shows up they delete it.

Echo May 21st, 2013 | 8:25am

The old rule used to be: If a NJ ID looks real, it's fake, and vice versa. The quality of manufacturing for fakes was much higher than what NJ was able to deliver. That was pre-9/11 though.